An ALT in Japan

The Mainichi is running this in it's opinion section. As a former municipal ALT with 16 years' experience, I feel qualified to make a few observations. Assistant Language Teacher: 外国人指導助手 (助手= assistant). The author states "the Ministry of Education insisted (is that the word?) foreign educators (ALTs) be labeled 'assistants', not 'teachers'" when the program was established. They are in fact both: teaching assistants. Further: "The goal was simple: introduce international contact while preserving domestic authority." I sense the author regards "preserving domestic authority" as somehow problematic. Allow me to demur: Foreign teachers who lack Japanese teaching qualifications and possesss limited Japanese skills work under authority of local school officials, as is right and proper. (For that matter, the same is true of both Japanese ALTs and licensed teachers.) "The same job title produces vastly different experiences -- sometimes empowering, sometimes unsettling." I am afraid that is the case with most jobs (and in life, generally) and is certainly not unique to nor the product of the ALT title. What is missing from this broad statement is reference to the personalities and practices of the individuals involved. Even a veteran, effective ALT may encounter the gamut of classroom experiences at a single school, from considerable freedom and responsibility in one class to constraint and disengagement in another. This is not the fault of the "ALT title". That's just how it is. (Professional athletes know a thing or two about this experience.) "Yet the ALT system -- the country's largest point of contact between Japanese youth and international residents -- has barely evolved since 1987." This is simply naive, uninformed; perhaps it is disingenuous.The program has grown from its birth in 1987 as the Japan Exchange and Teaching program with 848 participants from four countries to over 10,000 ALTs representing dozens today (including Japan- why is our correspondent mum on the subject of his Japanese ALT colleagues?). Moreover, senior municipal ALTs now advise local education authorities on matters pertaining to foreign teachers. This is not mere expansion but also evolution. "What Japan's schools have taught me, after 16 years, is that change does not begin in ministries or boardrooms. It begins in classrooms". Has the writer served on boards, worked in ministries? The changes the author advocates, in title and status, will originate (if at all) not in classrooms but meeting rooms at the local BOE if not the Education Ministry itself. symbolic openness If you're keeping score: foreign teacher at public schools, permanent residency (given the 16 years and family), national health care... Not openness, mere empty promise, like the Statue of Liberty, say? I could go on, but won't. My advice: put in your seven hours a day, then go about your business. Do you really want to attend interminable meetings, deal with difficult parents, or undertake the myriad of onerous tasks facing Japanese teachers day in and day out? Accept the ALT job for what it is- it's not a bad gig, there are many worse. Or quit (as I did). If you want more out of your teaching career, consider working at a private school (which will arrange for a provisional license if you're teaching solo) or in tertiary education.